Page 40

Maeve

T he Elysian King still had Ivy’s hand trapped in his when we finally made it back to the chamber he’d given Ivy.

My beast hated how he towered over her. A potential threat that held her with a gentleness I doubted even she noticed.

She walked with a stiff posture and tried to keep as far a distance as she could without tearing her hand from his.

But he moved with ease, comfortable in her presence.

I kept a close eye on the male in particular. Only rumours surrounded him. Whispers in the night. Nightmares and stories told by the bedsides of children.

Not even the demons of House Elysian knew much about their King.

And now he had not only shown his face to the entire realm of Hell, but he had done it to create an alliance with our Queen.

As much as he claimed he wanted an alliance with the Queen of Nyx, I knew deep in my gut that wasn’t the only reason. Perhaps not even the reason at all.

The Elysian King stopped in the doorway of a chamber, though he did not release Ivy’s hand immediately.

He brought her knuckle slowly to his lips, keeping his eyes trained on hers.

Beside me, Elias bristled, the other males barely holding back their contempt.

It was a rush of emotions that I never expected, but knew would be inevitable when having a mate.

A need to protect her washed over me, tightening around my lungs as he lowered her hand from his lips. “Rest. We have a long journey to complete tomorrow.”

Ivy’s brows furrowed as she finally took her hand back. “I thought we would be jumping through shadows.” She glanced warily back at us. “That is what we’re doing, right?” When she looked back at him, he smiled.

“Yes,” he replied, hands moving behind his back. “And with how large our party is, it may take…three jumps before we reach the shores of the Old World.”

Her eyes narrowed, but before she could respond, Adrian stalked to her side and wrapped an arm around her waist. “We can explain the intricacies of it to her,” he said, offering the demon king a stiff smile. “She’ll see you in the morning.”

The smile dropped from Rhadamanthus’s face as he straightened to his full, intimidating height.

He was an imposing male at over seven feet, and when he stared down at Adrian, there was none of that softness in his gaze.

Where he held Ivy in some kind of regard, whether that be because of their deal or something else, it did not extend to us.

My jaw clenched as the demon turned back to her without a word to Adrian. “I will see you when it is time.”

And without looking at the rest of us, he walked into the shadows and disappeared.

Ivy slumped into Adrian’s side with a sigh. “Please. I need to get out of this dress,” she muttered. “I don’t have the energy for anything else.”

My own muscles loosened as Elias moved to the double doors leading into the chamber, Rowan following close behind.

“Nothing else we can do tonight, anyway,” Adrian said, kissing her lightly on the forehead. “Tomorrow is going to be hard enough.”

“Tomorrow and the next day and the next day until we find the crown and stop Dante,” she replied, pulling out of his arms.

From the doorway, Elias made a sound as he opened the door. “And yet, we’ll figure it out. Together .”

Ivy’s cheeks flushed red as she ducked her head. “I know. I owe you guys big time for this.”

“No, you don’t,” I said, stalking to her side. Ivy glanced up, her exhaustion evident in her eyes, in the frown pulling her lips. “You had to make a choice, one that should have never been left up to you alone.”

She shook her head, crossing her arms over her chest. “But it was. I had to decide. That’s what I’m meant to do as Queen.” Her eyes went from me to the others. “I can feel your distrust. And I get it. I really do. But help me make it work.”

“Let’s go inside,” Rowan said, eyeing the hallways carefully .

Ivy sighed, arms falling to her side. I moved to take her hand, to at least offer her some support, but she ignored me—and the others—as she entered the room.

I shared a look of concern with Elias, but he shook his head.

By the time we entered, Ivy had already taken the crown off and set it on the coffee table. She worked her fingers through her hair as she stared out the tall window. Dark curls fell down her back in soft waves, shining with the same glitter that decorated her skin.

You do look beautiful, I said, opening up the bond.

I hadn’t wanted her to bear witness to what the demons had triggered in my dreams. The others likely had dreams of her, because their love for her overwhelmed their own dark thoughts.

But mine…mine had been a nightmare born of the worst years of my life.

Horrifying memories dredged up by the demons of nightmares.

All night, I’d worked on locking the remnants away. Seeing her after days of being trapped in my own mind was a blessing—one she didn’t know she bestowed upon me. All I wanted to do was take her in my arms and breathe in her scent. Take in the safety only she could provide me.

Ivy looked over her shoulder at me, tired eyes finding mine. Thank you .

Through the bond, only the briefest impression could be made on how she felt. Her blocks were stronger, reinforced now by her new power. But even with them, I caught on to her insecurity.

The doors behind us closed. Adrian’s power filled the room as he drew charms by the door handles.

“I can’t do the whole suite,” he said, stepping back as the charm settled into the wood of the door before disappearing.

“But I can at least make it so anyone with ill intention can’t just waltz in and try to murder us while we sleep.

” A sarcastic smile toyed at his lips as he walked away from the door.

“I don’t know about the rest of you, but I don’t have any intention of sleeping.” The half-Fae male grabbed a singular, lone chair from the corner of the room and moved it to the front of the room so that he had an equal vantage point of the door and window.

“Resting now would be beneficial,” I warned, crossing my arms. “We do not know what awaits us in the Old World.”

“Yeah, we do,” the Fae prince muttered. “Dante and his council of traitors will be waiting. And I don’t intend on letting them leave.”

“Could you help me out of this dress?” Ivy asked quietly, appearing in the doorway of the only bedroom we’d found in the suite.

Her eyes fell on me, then Elias, who stood with his arms folded across his chest by another window, this one smaller than the one in the main room. “I don’t really know how this works.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, as Elias made a sound in the back of his throat.

“Want us to tear it off you, Angel?”

She sighed, unimpressed, and shook her head. “I didn’t exactly put it on . The demons dropped it on my lap and it kind of put itself on me?” Ivy shrugged, shoulders slumping. “I want a shower and to sleep for a few hours.”

“Come here, a mhuirnín .” I held out my hand to her, and this time, she came to me willingly.

“Thanks,” she murmured, giving me her back and pulling her hair over her shoulder. “I will say, it’s the easiest way to put a dress on. ”

“Did you try using magic?” I asked, brushing my fingers over the back. There was no clear way to undo it, no clasps or ties or even a zipper. I might have to do as Elias joked and tear it off her.

Ivy nodded. “Yeah. It’s stuck. And I’m not interested in visiting the Old World in it. I want my old clothes back.”

Elias growled and made his way towards us, eyes drifting over the dress. “What happened to your gear?”

“It came off with magic. And it was—” She stopped, shaking her head again. “Maybe it’ll be here when I wake up.”

That meant everything she’d had on her when we were on the ship was gone. For the first time since seeing her again, I looked down at her hand. The ring was still there. But the dagger…

I had to remind myself that now she could really protect herself. No guessing or wondering. She had all of Queen Greer’s power at her disposal. And even if she didn’t have all her bonds, she still had five completed and all of our power.

“You know what did happen though?” she asked, as I grabbed the material at her back. Uncertainty crossed Elias’s features as she smiled up at him. “I shifted.”

I didn’t get the chance to tear the dress off before Elias had her in his arms. Even my own heart clenched at the declaration, the implication.

She could shift. And she had. On her own.

Something she’d been terrified to even consider.

Any time we’d brought it up, she’d declare she would never shift. Never take on a wolf form.

And she’d done so. Alone and stranded without us.

“You shifted?” He gazed at her with so much adoration that it felt almost like I was imposing. “You have a wolf? ”

Ivy’s face broke out in a smile—a tired one, but it was clear she held a lot of pride over doing it. “Yeah, I have a wolf.”

“Fucking perfect,” he murmured, eyes glowing for a moment. “But I wasn’t there to see it.”

I couldn’t help my own pride that swelled within me. “How did it feel, a mhuirnín ?”

Her eyes met mine for a brief moment as she sighed. “Terrifying. Lonely. But also…not.” She shrugged, eyes flickering shut. “It’s all a blur. We ran for hours. Days it felt like. Looking for you. Trying to find any sign of life. And then she just sat. I tried to go into your dreams, but…”

She glanced at the doorway. Elias and I were the only ones in the bedroom with her—for now. Adrian and Rowan were building new charm runes with the help of the Fae prince, who was giving them information on what he knew Dante and his followers were using.

After a moment, she sighed. “I couldn’t quite enter anyone’s dreams.”

“The lust demons,” I said, while Elias nodded. “They have the ability to enter dreams. It’s part of their power set.”